The School of Theatre and Dance...Joey a “Broadway-pop crossover extraordinaire.” In 2016, Joey...

The School of Theatre and Dance

2020-2021 Season

In PiecesIn PiecesA New Musical by Joey ContrerasA New Musical by Joey Contreras

Book, Music, and Lyrics byJoey Contreras

2020-2021 Roe Green Visiting Artist

Assistant DirectorsJudea LoweNatalia Cruz

Costume DesignerKim Gapinski

Scenic DesignerTetta Askeland

Assistant Music DirectorMathew Blasio

DramaturgKelly Harper

Sound DesignersNicholas Drashner

Wesley Sneed

ChoreographersLauren Elledge

Jermane Jackson

Lighting DesignerJaemin Park

Production Stage ManagerLexi Snoddy

^Member of Alpha Psi Omega, National Theatre Honor Society


Directed byFabio Polanco

Original Video Art byKasumi

Music DirectorJennifer Korecki

Please be advised: In Pieces contains strong language & references to substance use, sex, problematic relationships, and mental health issues.

This broadcast of In Pieces contains sequences of bright, rapidly flashing lights and other video effects that may affect viewers with photosensitivities.

IN PIECES is produced by special arrangement with BRET ADAMS, LTD., 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036. www.bretadamsltd.net


Land AcknowledgementWe pay respect to the Erie, Mississauga, Osage, and Haudenosaunee people on whose ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands Kent State University’s eight regional campuses stand. We encourage you to learn about and amplify the

history and contemporary work of the indigenous people and nations on whose land you sit.


A Note from Director Fabio Polanco

In Pieces is a contemporary song cycle about the unpredictable journey of our romantic lives. It is a journey we experience in pieces; each one building in some way on the last. Along this journey, there are many forks in the road. Some are taken and some are not. Some are right, and some are wrong. We long for assurance where there is none. We fear the unknown. We fear being hurt. But, in the end, what matters most is that we experienced the journey itself, that we took the chance, and dared to try. We dared to share the most vulnerable and sensitive pieces of ourselves with someone else. We dared to trust that the wholeness those pieces comprise is worthy of the wholeness of another and the further wholeness that is created when they come together. This production was almost entirely rehearsed and filmed remotely. On the rare occasions when it was not, students, faculty, and staff stringently abided by Kent State University’s Safe Seven and Return to Creative Activity protocols, including masking, distancing, disinfection of equipment, self-monitoring, and constant communication. As part of this, actors and musicians were audio and video recorded individually at home while being remotely directed. Their performances were then brought together in post. This production was also produced and is being seen at a time of racial reckoning and social and political turmoil. To say the least, creating this production at this moment was a great challenge. But in this moment and its challenges, we saw the opportunity to face them, lean into them, and explore how they might illuminate In Pieces and how In Pieces could, in turn, illuminate them.

The pandemic, in so many ways, has broken us in pieces. The marginalization and exclusion of members of non-dominant communities always has and continues to tear us into pieces. When we communicate remotely, we see only pieces of each other in little boxes; we catch glimpses of pieces of each other’s lives and experiences. In New York City, where In Pieces is set, and cities around the world, people are alone, isolated in their little boxes, stacked one on top of the other, so very close, longing to connect, but unable to. But in this forum, because they dared to try, the pieces of people in these little boxes within boxes connect and come into a semblance of wholeness. (continued)


A Note from Director Fabio Polanco, continued

In Pieces could not have happened without the dedication of many and support from many. Thank you to the Ohio Arts Council and the Roe Green Foundation for their generosity. Support from the Ohio Arts Council’s ArtsNext program and the Roe Green Visiting Director Series enabled us to address technical needs, remove barriers to audience engagement, and secure local and national professional artists to work with our students and share their talents with our community. Next, a thank you to the Kent State University Office of Sponsored Programs and the Office of Foundation Relations, especially Angelina Steiner and Lindsay Barba. Thank you to School Director Eric van Baars and the students, staff, and faculty of the School of Theatre and Dance. Thank you to our assistant directors Judea Lowe and Natalia Cruz, as well as our phenomenal student dramaturg Kelly Harper and her advisor Dr. Yuko Kurahashi. Thanks to our incredible cast and our tireless, dedicated, flexible, and talented student designers Tetta Askelind, Kim Gapinski, Jaemin Park, Kaliska Williams, and especially Wesley Sneed and Professor Nick Drashner who put in work well beyond reasonable expectation recording and mixing audio. Also, thanks to all the dedicated design and technical faculty advisors and staff, particularly Jason Potts for his help and expertise with all things technological. In the work beyond reasonable expectation category, I could never exhaust the need to acknowledge Musical Director Jennifer Korecki and Assistant Musical Director Mathew Blasio. Theirs was a heavy lift and they did it with grace, talent, and generosity at every turn. I also can’t imagine what we would have done without our amazing stage management team Lexi Snoddy, Alexandra Baxter, Reilly Masi, Noah Johnson, and their advisor Tom Humes. And a very special thanks to Kasumi whose talent, expertise, advice, and collaboration were integral to this project. Finally, to Joey Contreras. It would be difficult for me to come up with a more ideal collaborator. If it were not for the fact that it would take up an enormous amount of space, I would share every step from the first email asking, “Is there any chance In Pieces is available for licensing?” to the last, for they have all been a joy. Joey, thank you for your trust, generosity, artistry, discernment, humor, friendship, and support. Again, there is so much I could say, but in short, we are honored to play a small part in your story. You have given all of us a great big beautiful gift and I will always be grateful for it.


Cast of CharactersAlex........................................................................Claire GordonJael......................................................................Kirstin AngelinaRiver........................................................................Cameron OlinSam.................................................................Israeljah Khi-ReignGrey.....................................................................Mason HenningCharlie..........................................................Zachary MonczewskiHunter............................................................................Earl LaneAustyn...................................................................Karsen Guldan

EnsembleMaxwell Brodzinski, Hannah Hall, Thomas Horen, Emma Koralewski, Jack Lewis, Noah McCullers, Sunayna Smith, Alexis Wilson

SwingsAntonia Cangelosi, Joey Cook, Cayden Ferguson, Abby Stoffel

In Pieces was made possible through generous support from the:

The Roe Green Visiting Director Series, endowed by the Roe Green and the Roe Green Foundation

and


Musical Numbers

1. Fork In The Road (Intro)2. You Never Know3. Young Kind Of Love4. Me And Mr. Popularity5. Love Wildly6. My Simple Request7. Unsaid8. First Sign Of Forever9. Get Up And Go10. Ohio11. This Is Not Me

12. Waiting For More13. Like You Don’t Miss Me14. Another New York Love Story15. Love Me, Love Me Not16. Singing The Same Line17. Great, Cool18. With Him19. I Could Fall20. In Pieces21. You Never Know (Interlude)22. Fork In The Road

Orchestra

BassDon T. Day

CelloAaron Fried

GuitarNick Greathouse

Piano Jennifer Korecki

ViolinEva Mondragon

PercussionScott Thomas

Dance 2020/Virtual VisionIn PiecesIn PiecesA New Musical by Joey ContrerasA New Musical by Joey Contreras

Production Staff

Director...........................................................................................Fabio PolancoAssistant Directors........................................................Judea Lowe, Natalia CruzMusic Director..............................................................................Jennifer KoreckiAssistant Music Director.................................................................Mathew BlasioVideo and Post-Production........................................................................KasumiSingers’ Videographer....................................................................Fabio PolancoChoreographer (Young Kind of Love, Ohio)..................................Lauren ElledgeChoreographer (Love Wildly, Like You Don’t Miss Me)..............Jermane JacksonCostume Designer............................................................................Kim GapinskiDramaturg..........................................................................................Kelly HarperLighting Designer...............................................................................Jaemin ParkAssistant Lighting Designer............................................................Wesley SneedScenic Designer.............................................................................Tetta AskelandAssociate Scenic Designer...........................................................Kaliska WilliamsSound Designers..............................................Nicholas Drashner, Wesley SneedProduction Stage Manager................................................................Lexi SnoddyAssistant Stage Managers......................................................Alexandra Baxter^, Noah Johnson, Reilly MasiCostume Design Faculty Advisor..........................................Michelle Hunt SouzaCostume Design Faculty Advisor..........................................Michelle Hunt SouzaCostume Technology Faculty Advisors.........................................Kerry Jo Bauer, Costume Technology Faculty Advisors.........................................Kerry Jo Bauer, Grace Cochran Keenan Grace Cochran KeenanDramaturgy Faculty Advisor..........................................................Yuko KurahashiDramaturgy Faculty Advisor..........................................................Yuko KurahashiLighting Design Faculty Advisor...................................................Jakyung C. SeoLighting Design Faculty Advisor...................................................Jakyung C. SeoScenic Design and Props Faculty Advisor..............................Tamara L. Honesty^Scenic Design and Props Faculty Advisor..............................Tamara L. Honesty^Sound Design and Video Faculty Advisor................................Nicholas DrashnerSound Design and Video Faculty Advisor................................Nicholas DrashnerStage Management Faculty Advisor...................................................Tom HumesStage Management Faculty Advisor...................................................Tom HumesTechnical Direction Faculty Advisor.................................................Steve Pauna^Technical Direction Faculty Advisor.................................................Steve Pauna^School Director................................................................................Eric van BaarsSchool Director................................................................................Eric van BaarsManaging Director.........................................................................Rebecca GatesManaging Director.........................................................................Rebecca GatesProduction Manager.........................................................................Karl ErdmannProduction Manager.........................................................................Karl ErdmannMarketing Coordinator......................................................................Joni KonevalMarketing Coordinator......................................................................Joni KonevalPerforming Arts Box Office Manager..................................................Alex SwigerPerforming Arts Box Office Manager..................................................Alex SwigerCostume Shop Supervisor....................................................................Robin RuthCostume Shop Supervisor....................................................................Robin RuthAssistant Costume Shop Supervisor....................................................Marti ColesAssistant Costume Shop Supervisor....................................................Marti ColesLighting and Sound Supervisor...........................................................Jason PottsLighting and Sound Supervisor...........................................................Jason PottsScene Shop Supervisor......................................................................Jason GatesScene Shop Supervisor......................................................................Jason Gates

^Member of Alpha Psi Omega, National Theatre Honor Society


Joey ContrerasBook, Music, and Lyrics – In Pieces2020-2021 Roe Green Visiting Artist

Joey Contreras is a musical theatre and pop songwriter originally from California. He is internationally known for his first album Love Me, Love Me Not, which featured an all-star lineup of Broadway talent including Jeremy Jordan, Lilli Cooper, Kyle Dean Massey and Katie Thompson. In 2014, his second and more pop-focused album, Young Kind of Love, immediately debuted in the iTunes Pop Charts. Out Magazine labeled the sophomore effort “sexy and catchy,” and branded Joey a “Broadway-pop crossover extraordinaire.” In 2016, Joey wrote the music and lyrics for the Disney Junior animated short, “Kiwi’s First Flight,” featured in the series,

“Lights, Camera, Lexi!” In 2019, Joey released his third album, Joyride, which once again landed in the iTunes Pop Charts sparking an artist profile in Huffington Post. His standalone singles, Break from the Line, Wild and a new acoustic arrangement of Love Me, Love Me Not collectively hit over 1 million streams in 2019 alone. In 2020, he released the singles Safer (with husband and frequent collaborator Brian Russell Carey), Even If It Might Hurt Me and a new arrangement of his 2014 song, Another New York Love Story.

Hailed as one of Playbill’s “Contemporary Musical Theatre Songwriters You Should Know,” Joey is a 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist, and his musicals with bookwriter/lyricist, Kate Thomas, include All the Kids are Doing It (Provincetown Playhouse, Tisch, IWU, O’Neill NMTC Finalist), Forget Me Not (NYTB New Works Series, The Dare Tactic, dir. Catie Davis; Tisch New Studio on Broadway, dir. Ilana Becker) and Elements. He is currently developing Heartbreakers in Hell, a new musical with bookwriter/lyricist Benjamin Halstead, which has a planned premiere with The Rubber City Theatre in September 2021. He also has written the music and lyrics for the song-cycle, In Pieces (originally presented at Lincoln Center), which is now available for licensing and live streaming rights.

As a strong supporter of arts education, Joey has served as Artist-in-Residence with Broadway Dreams Foundation and has contributed original music and arrangements to Broadway in South Africa. He also regularly teaches masterclasses with The Growing Studio in New York. Joey is an alumnus from the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (2010 ASCAP Max Dreyfus Scholarship Recipient) and the 2017 Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project.


Roe GreenRoe Green is a local arts patron, activist, and CEO of The Roe Green Foundation.

Ms. Green received her B.A in theatre and communications from the University of Colorado in 1970 and in 1980 she was awarded an M.A. in theatre from Kent State University. She has extensive stage and business management experience, includes Cain Park, The Cleveland Opera, and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

In 2003, the Roe Green Foundation established a visiting director’s series for the School of Theatre and Dance. In 2018, Ms. Green and the Roe Green Foundation endowed the series with a gift of $2.2 to allow the series to continue on for decades to come.

In January, 2006, the Roe Green Foundation pledged the largest capital gift in Kent State University history in order to create The Roe Green Center for the School of Theatre and Dance. This capital gift enabled the construction of new and the renovation of existing facilities in the Music and Speech Building (now the Center for the Performing Arts) which united theatre and dance under one roof for the first time in university history.

At Kent State University, Ms. Green is an emeritus member of the the Kent State University Foundation board and sits on boards of the School of Theatre and Dance and Porthouse Theatre.

Ms. Green serves on the board of The Cleveland Play House, on the dean’s advisory board at the University of Colorado, on the President’s advisory council of Case Western Reserve University, and on the advisory board of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Green is on the International board of Governor’s for the Shaw Festival in Canada and is the co-chair of the Israeli arts committee for the Jewish Federation in Cleveland. Green is the president emeritus of C.A.V.O.R.T., Inc.

As CEO of the Roe Green Foundation, Green is responsible for the Judge Ben C. Green professorship at Case Western Reserve University, as well as the law library named for her father. The Roe Green Foundation established a battered women’s shelter in Geau-ga called the “Green House,” and the Foundation also started the Green Arts Fund that supported the Jewish Community Center arts and culture programs.

Thank you, Roe!For your generosity and continued support of

the School of Theatre and Dance


School of Theatre and Dance Faculty and Staff

Eric van BaarsDirectorAssociate Professor, Theatre

Daniel-Raymond Nadon, Ph.D.Associate DirectorProfessor, Theatre

Kerry Jo BauerAssistant Professor, Costume Technology

Jennifer BlackAssistant Professor, Dance

Courtney BrownAssistant Professor, Voice and Acting

Marti ColesAssistant Costume Shop Supervisor

Nicholas DrashnerAssistant Professor, Sound Design

Karl ErdmannProduction Manager

Amy FritscheActing Area CoordinatorAssociate Professor, Acting and Musical Theatre

Rebecca Balogh GatesManaging Director

Jason GatesScene Shop Supervisor

Tamara L. HonestyAssistant Professor, Scenic Design

Tom HumesAssistant Professor, Stage Management

Paul HurleyAssistant Professor, Acting and Movement

Grace Cochran KeenanAssistant Professor, Costume Technology

Natalie HuyaTheatre Faculty, Kent State Ashtabula

Terri KentMusical Theatre CoordinatorProfessor, Musical Theatre & Acting

Eric KildowAssistant Professor of Theatre, Kent State Trumbull

Gregory KingArtistic Director, Kent Dance EnsembleAssistant Professor, Dance

Joni KonevalMarketing Coordinator


Jennifer KoreckiAssociate Professor, Musical Theatre

Yuko Kurahashi, Ph.D.Graduate CoordinatorProfessor, Theatre

Kyle LovellAcademic Advisor

Matt MarquisManager, Information Technology

Catherine MeredithAssistant Professor, Dance

Donna MillerAdministrative Clerk

Steve PaunaTechnical DirectorAssociate Professor, Theatre

Fabio PolancoAssociate Professor, Acting and Directing

Jason PottsLighting and Sound Supervisor

Jeffrey Marc RocklandDance Division CoordinatorAssociate Professor, Dance

Robin RuthCostume Shop Supervisor

Jakyung C. SeoAssociate Professor, Lighting DesignDesign Technology & Production Coordiantor

Terri SieferAdministrative Clerk

Alex SwigerPerforming Arts Box Office Manager

Michelle Hunt SouzaAssistant Professor, Costume Design

Jonathan SwobodaAssociate Professor, Musical Theatre

Barbara Allegra VerlezzaAssociate Professor, Dance

James WeaverAssistant Professor of Theatre,Kent State Stark

School of Theatre and Dance Faculty and Staff


Patricia BesticHannah BlakeDane CastleTerence CranendonkJohn EichenlaubMichael GattoTheresa HollandMavis Jennings

Carrie LangguthSamuel McIntoshMichael OatmanBeverly Petersen-FittsRobert RussellErin SmithLana SugarmanRohn Thomas

School of Theatre and Dance Adjunct Faculty

School of Theatre and Dance Accompanists

Colin Dees Natasha Musaelyan

School of Theatre and Dance Graduate Assistants

Tetta AskelandAlex BarnhartBethany CaputoDevin GalloEve KruegerJessica Cope-MillerJaemin Park

Dylan RatellKeely RutledgeSteve SawickiBrian SeckfortKelley ShephardSara TomczakTravis Williams

The School of Theatre and Dance...Joey a “Broadway-pop crossover extraordinaire.” In 2016, Joey...

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